Morgan Stanley Virginia Complex Lures Pair of Merrill Lifers

Despite their protestations that they are withdrawing from no-win intramural recruiting wars, wirehouses continue to battle at the edges.

Two brokers who had spent their careers at Merrill Lynch confirmed to x3mdot that they joined Morgan Stanley, in separate moves, in late August. Both deals occurred in Virginia.

In Roanoke, 33-year Merrill veteran Ryland Hubbard made the jump to the rival firm on August 30, according to his BrokerCheck history. Hubbard, who a source said produced about $1.6 million in revenue for Merrill over the past 12 months and who moved with a client associate, referred calls to his branch manager when asked to comment.

The manager, William Nash, declined to discuss the recruiting coup.

In Newport News, 15-year Merrill advisor Christopher Beal and two associates made the Morgan Stanley migration. Beal, who produced around $1.85 million of fees and commissions in the previous 12 months, confirmed his move.

He declined to discuss his motivations, other than to say that he felt somewhat less autonomy at Merrill since the broker-dealer’s purchase by Bank of America.

The Old Dominion State changes appear to be an exception to the recruiting slowdown, which occurred despite Morgan Stanley and Merrill having hoped for a summertime spurt of activity prior to their expense-related narrowing of the recruiting doors.

Spokeswomen at Merrill and Morgan Stanley did not respond to requests for comment.

Merrill and Morgan Stanley had publicized June 1 and June 16, 2017, respectively, as deadlines for experienced brokers to express interest in moving before closing their recruiting doors. Each is making exceptions for so-called franchise players, according to firm executives and headhunters, but Morgan Stanley’s revised recruiting offer of around 250% of trailing 12-month production is lower than its earlier top levels.